MedMedia Project Completes Round of Peer-to-Peer Missions

The MedMedia project, an EU-funded project supporting media reform in the ENP South countries, just completed a round of missions in the region to assess the needs and the commitment of key media stakeholders to engage in its Peer-to-Peer (P2P) component.

Part of the regional Programme Media and Culture for Development in the Southern Mediterranean, the project engaged with a wide range of media actors across the region. Some 30 institutions– broadcasters, regulators, journalists’ institutions, media schools and key policy makers at Ministry and Parliament levels – expressed an interest in joining the project’ s activities. Those selected, will be offered to choose their counterpart peer among institutions from EU member states, as well as other ENP south partner countries.

The P2P component of MedMedia aims at developing the capacities of media operators from the region and fosters exchanges between peers, through consultancy visits, remote communications and sectorial meetings. Bilateral partnerships and sectorial group meetings will support mutual learning and enhance the debate on professional and technical challenges.

Partner institutions are encouraged to choose well defined and measurable objectives, which can yield tangible and achievable results, while their counterpart peers are required to present ideas in the form of workable solutions.

The Senior Peer-to-Peer Expert paid working visits to eight partner countries starting with Tunisia and closing with Algeria, during the MedMedia inception phase. The project’s activities – including the Peer-to-peer exchanges – are scheduled to commence in the autumn.

The MedMedia project complements EU action at bilateral level, to support media reform in the region.
Background notes

The EU funded Med Media project aims to create an enabling environment for media reforms in the Southern Mediterranean region. It is part of the EUR 17 million EU programme “Media and culture for development in the Southern Mediterranean” which aims at supporting the media and culture reform processes in the region. MedMedia will focus on media legislation, regulation, programming, strategy and leadership with a view to helping state media fulfil their public service mandate and compete with the commercial sector. It will also work to build public trust by strengthening the media’s role as an independent watchdog and a forum for democratic debate.

The project is being implemented by a consortium led by BBC Media Action and comprising the International Federation of Journalists, the Federation of Arab Journalists, IREX Europe, the Blanquerna School of Communication and the Jordan Media Institute.

The project is funded under the European Neighborhood Partnership Instrument. Started in January 2014, it will run for a period of four years.